Rallies expect boost after Ariz. immigration law

People make their way north on Broadway Street during a march and rally for federal immigration reform and a protest against Arizona's controversial immigration law, in Los Angeles Saturday, May 1, 2010. Activists said outrage over Arizona's controversial immigration law "awakened a sleeping giant" Saturday as rallies demanding federal immigration reform kicked off in cities across the country. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
— AP

People make their way north on Broadway Street during a march and rally for federal immigration reform and a protest against Arizona's controversial immigration law, in Los Angeles Saturday, May 1, 2010. Activists said outrage over Arizona's controversial immigration law "awakened a sleeping giant" Saturday as rallies demanding federal immigration reform kicked off in cities across the country. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
/ AP

People march past the Brooklyn Bridge, seen in the background, during an immigration rally in New York, Saturday, May 1, 2010. Activists said outrage over Arizona's controversial immigration law "awakened a sleeping giant" Saturday as rallies demanding federal immigration reform kicked off in cities across the country. (AP Photo/David Goldman)— AP

People march past the Brooklyn Bridge, seen in the background, during an immigration rally in New York, Saturday, May 1, 2010. Activists said outrage over Arizona's controversial immigration law "awakened a sleeping giant" Saturday as rallies demanding federal immigration reform kicked off in cities across the country. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
/ AP

People gather during a march for federal immigration reform and against Arizona's controversial immigration law, Saturday, May 1, 2010 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)— AP

CHICAGO 
Activists said outrage over Arizona's controversial immigration law "awakened a sleeping giant" Saturday as rallies demanding federal immigration reform kicked off in cities across the country.

In New York, labor organizer John Delgado said anger over the law - which requires local law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they're in the country illegally - drew more than 5,000 people to a rally at Manhattan's Foley Square.

In Los Angeles, singer Gloria Estefan kicked off a massive downtown march to demand immigration reform and protest the Arizona law. Estefan spoke in Spanish and English atop a flatbed truck, proclaiming the United States is a nation of immigrants. She said immigrants are good, hardworking people, not criminals.

Organizers believe opposition to the law could be the catalyst to draw tens of thousands to rallies in dozens of cities. Four years ago, more than a million people across the country united to protest ultimately unsuccessful federal legislation that would have made being an illegal immigrant a felony.

The movement fractured and annual May 1 rally attendance dropped sharply as attempts to reform federal immigration policy fizzled. In 2006, nearly half a million people took to Chicago's streets. Last year, fewer than 15,000 participated in the rallies, held May 1 because it's a traditional day of protest and International Workers Day.

But immigration reform advocates have seen a flurry of activity since Brewer signed the Arizona measure into law last week.

"What happened in Arizona proves that racism and anti-immigrant hysteria across the country still exists. We need to continue to fight," said Lee Siu Hin, a coordinator with the Washington, D.C.-based National Immigrant Solidarity Network.

Activists are mobilizing through online social networking, churches and ethnic media. They have called for a boycott of Arizona businesses and protested outside Arizona Diamondbacks baseball games.

Supporters say the law is necessary because of the federal government's failure to secure the border, and they pointed to an attack Friday on a sheriff's deputy in southern Arizona as proof something had to be done.

The Pinal County Sheriff's Office said Deputy Louie Puroll was shot and wounded after coming across suspected drug smugglers about 50 miles south of Phoenix. Brewer and others immediately chimed in, saying the attack shows a growing problem with a porous border.

"The horrendous violence we see by narco-terrorists is uncontrolled, and our own federal government refuses to fulfill its responsibility to secure our border," Brewer said in a statement.

Critics of the law say it's unconstitutional and encourages racial profiling and discrimination against immigrants or anyone thought to be an immigrant. But they say that without federal legislation to address the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S., other states may follow Arizona's lead.